It is said, that wherever the King is, there is the court. But with much more reason may it be said, that wherever our Saviour came, there was the temple or the church. He came to _feasts_ and _entertainments_ with the same spirit, for the same end, and in the same divine power, as he went to raise a _dead corpse_, namely to shew forth the glory of God. Wherever he came, it was in the _spirit_ and _power_ of the Redeemer of mankind; every thing he did was only to destroy the works of the devil, to deliver man from his power, raise the dead, and give sight to the blind, and ears to the deaf. It made no difference to him, whether he did this in the temple, or in the streets, at a feast, or at a funeral. As he was every where God, so every place became holy to him. Lastly, if our Saviour, was present, at chearful entertainments, to shew his _approbation_ of such indulgences, how came _John the Baptist_, that severe master of mortification to be a fit preparer of the way to the kingdom of heaven? Surely his voice must cry wrong, if such mortification was not right.
And if our Saviour disapproved of the severity of his life and manners, how came he to point him out as a burning and shining light? Thus much may serve to vindicate our Saviour’s example from the shocking misapplication the Doctor has made of it.
35. Let us now see how he treats, and instructs the charitable Christian in these words.
“What, says the _half-thinker_, is not charity to the poor, a most excellent thing? And can I be too charitable? Can I therefore bestow too much upon the poor? I answer, tho’ you cannot be too charitable, yet you may bestow too much upon the poor, to the ruin of your wife and children, which is not charity, but madness, and a great and _most grievous sin_. Did you never hear that _charity begins at home_? Did you never read that of St. _Paul_? _If any provide not for his own, and especially those of his own house: he hath deny’d the faith, and is worse than an infidel?_”
The Doctor’s proverb I shall leave to himself; but the text of St. _Paul_, which he has as grosly misapplied, as he did our Saviour’s miracle, I must take out of his hands. St. _Paul_’s words are quoted to prove, that it is madness, a great and grievous sin, for any one thro’ charity to the poor to render himself unable to provide for his wife and children. Now the apostle in this place speaks no more about this sin, than he speaks against the sin of watching and prayer. Nay, what is more, there is not in all his writings, or in the whole New Testament, the _least supposition_ or _hint_ that such a sin ever was, or would be committed. The apostle was singly speaking of _such women_, as were to be taken into the order of widows for the service of the church, and to be maintained by it. Verse 4. he says, that such widows as had children or nephews that could support them, were not to be maintained by the church. And to such sons and nephews who have mothers and aunts that thus want their assistance, he says, _If any one provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house_, i. e. If any sons or nephews have mothers or aunts become desolate widows, and take not care to assist them, especially if they live with them, such have renounced the piety of the gospel, and have not so much humanity as infidels.
36. This alone is the plain doctrine of the apostle, which the Doctor has grosly perverted, to the condemning of that which he never thought of. On the contrary, the scripture abounds with passages which might persuade us, that no family could ever be ruined by the alms and charity of its father; _I have been young, and now am old_, saith the psalmist, _Yet never saw I the righteous forsaken or his seed begging their bread._
_The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered again._ They that cannot believe this, want the faith of Christians. Had any one in the apostle’s time reduced his wife and children to want, by his great charity to the poor, the apostle would have been so far from rebuking him, as a half-thinking fool, or exposing him to others, as guilty of madness, and grievous sin, that he would have told them, that he had consecrated himself and family to the church, that he and they were thereby become the dear objects of the church’s care and love, since their present distress was brought upon them by a boundless love and compassion for the poor.